My lone piece for ESPN+ subscribers this week was a trifle, a look at the top ten players under 25 on this year’s playoff rosters, focusing specifically on potential impact this month. I also held a Klawchat on Thursday.
I sent out another edition of my irregularly scheduled but free email newsletter earlier this week. Many thanks to the nearly five thousand of you who’ve subscribed already.
I’ll be at PAX Unplugged, the huge tabletop convention right here in Philadelphia, on November 30th-December 2nd, and the organizers just released their official schedule this week. It’s a great time with a ton of open gaming and many publishers showing off their latest releases.
And now, the links…
- Longreads first: Esquire‘s Ryan Lizza looks at the dairy farm owned by the family of anti-immigration zealot Rep. Devin Nunes (R), who has taken pains to conceal the fact that the farm is in Iowa, not California, and appears to run primarily on the labor of undocumented immigrants. Nunes’ family members tailed and attempted to harass Lizza as he investigated the story.
- ProPublica looks at how the negligence Texas hospitals and medical practices allowed an incompetent surgeon to keep practicing until rival doctors finally pushed hard enough to get him investigated and eventually convicted of aggravated assault for the deaths and injuries resulting from his surgeries. His employers appeared to know he had substance abuse problems, but didn’t report him to the appropriate national database.
- The Kavanaugh controversy has provided some useful cover for the President after the New York Times reported on potentially illegal tax schemes he used, including “outright fraud,” that increased how much money he gained or inherited from his father’s real estate empire.
- This memoir-ish post from writer Sarah Miller on how writing a review of The English Patient that she didn’t really believe altered her whole writing career is fascinating, including how it emphasizes the importance of writing for yourself, not to please others.
- Voter rights activist Jason Kander, who had been running for Mayor of Kansas City, announced this week that he’s seeking treatment for his PTSD and depression and thus ending his campaign. He served in Afghanistan in the early 2000s and says he’s been living with the aftereffects ever since.
- The economic data the Administration touts don’t actually tell the story they want you to believe: working Americans are worse off under Trump. Average earnings are rising faster than median earnings, because the gains are flowing to top earners, so those in the middle or below are losing ground relative to inflation.
- The President and his son are pushing a narrative that women everywhere make up sexual assault claims to destroy men. The President and his son are lying, and the pernicious effects go beyond the Kavanaugh nomination: this will only further depress rates of women reporting rapes or assaults to authorities. It’s also worth remembering that a man is more likely to be a victim of an assault himself than to be falsely accused of committing one.
- Here’s the Kavanaugh Corner, with all the links directly related to the case in one bullet point so you can skip them if you’re just exhausted by it all: The Intercept has a piece on how frequently and brazenly the candidate lied to the Senate committee; the dynamic duo of Mayer and Farrow write in the New Yorker how the FBI ignored relevant testimony from former classmates of the candidate, even when those classmates tried to contact the agency; WIRED has a long read on the disinformation network that pushed GamerGate, pizzagate, QAnon, and now is trying to exonerate Kavanaugh, using botnets, sock puppets, and useful idiots like Cernovich and Posobiec; Charles P. Pierce excoriates the vulgar talking yam yet again, this time for Trump openly mocking a sexual assault victim, to a cheering crowd of sycophants; and eight Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee signed a letter to Republican Chuck Grassley accusing him of misleading the public with tweets on the investigations into Brett Kavanaugh.
- The city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, would like you to forget the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre that killed over 300 black residents and left over 10,000 homeless.
- Vulture’s Mark Harris argues the SNL Kavanaugh sketch didn’t work, and that our political moment has made such attempts at comedy too difficult. I thought the sketch had plenty of great moments (starting with “WHAT?”), but at 12 minutes it ran on way too long, much like “The Big Ear Family.”
- Alison Moyet, late of new wave duo Yaz, signed a letter criticizing the LGBT charity Stonewall for supporting trans rights.
- A new study of existing evidence argues that withdrawal from SSRI antidepressants is more severe than commonly believed.
- Anti-vaccine nuts are now trying to tie their irrational claims to the #MeToo movement against rape and sexual harassment.
- Mercury, a bugbear of anti-vax loonies (even though neither elemental mercury nor the toxic methylmercury was ever in vaccines), is about to become more prevalent in our air and water as the Environmental ‘Protection’ Agency loosens rules on mercury emissions. It’s yet another futile attempt to bring back the coal industry even as the world moves beyond it.
- If you missed it among the many worse news items this week, three scholars revealed a nearly year-long hoax where they got seven ridiculous papers published in the field of what they called “grievance studies,” largely journals aimed at gender studies or studies of sexual orientation. The Chronicle of Higher Education offers a balanced look at the controversy, now colloquially called “Sokal Squared,” with academics weighing in on both sides, arguing that this was a worthwhile takedown of fields of study that favor outrage over scholarship, or arguing that the scholars picked worthless targets while ignoring more serious problems in academic publishing (like p-hacking).
- The Athletic’s Marc Carig and Eno Sarris looked at how the Yankees became one of the leading users of analytics in MLB (subscription required). They aren’t often named as such a team – critics love to trot out the A’s and Rays when bashing sabermetrics – but they’ve spent as much or more on the area as anyone.
- A new rule in Scotland forbids mapmakers from putting the island of Shetland in a separate box.
- This editorial cartoon on Kavanaugh and today’s Republican Party speaks volumes without a word.
Great article from Marc and Eno. When are you going to join them so I can rid myself of all forms of the 4 letter network that shall not be named. You are my last connection.
I find the republican savagery to win at all costs somewhat smart. Effectively a small majority gets their way despite the large volume of people actually against most of their policy (cause it sucks). The adults in the room Democrats are ineffective as they care about decorum and being friends. I suspect that Democrats will need to actually play for blood and win by rolling over republicans. It like they are afraid to win by being jerks. I bet if they won they’d see that they’d like it and they’d keep doing it.
I thought Mehdi Hassan had an interesting take exactly to that notion: https://www.google.com/amp/s/static.theintercept.com/amp/pack-the-supreme-court.html
I’ve always felt that Democrats couldn’t act in quite the same way as Republicans in those regards because the typical Democratic platform doesn’t appeal to base instincts of separation and “us vs. them” mentality the way the Republican platform does. I have no data to support that, it’s just a feeling. Which makes me sound like a typical Republican.
Hi Keith- I write as a long-time fan of your work. This platitude is meant to be a warning call that I am not an Internet troll trying to argue with you for the sake of “owning” anyone. My wife Amanda and I moved to Tulsa recently (for her work) from D.C. We’re both very progressive people who also realize that the irony is not lost that we’re white people who keep living in gentrifying cities.
The article you shared about how Tulsa chooses to remember the massacre of black residents hits important notes. The Greenwood neighborhood, which we live just outside of, has every telltale marking of a gentrifying neighborhood. The ballpark. The very dumb BMX track. And yeah, the luxury apartment complex, which we do not live in.
My issue is with the line where you write that Tulsa would like people to forget the 1921 massacre. This same week, in the same paper you cited, there was a lengthy story about how the current mayor, GT Bynum, as a response to the story you posted, will reopen the investigation into the mass graves (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/tulsa-mayor-reopens-investigation-into-possible-mass-graves-from-1921-race-massacre/2018/10/02/df713c96-c68f-11e8-b2b5-79270f9cce17_story.html?utm_term=.a6a7adcc9bb1). Some could argue “too little too late” or “it shouldn’t have taken a WaPo story to make it happen.” But man, I find that to be really nitpicky. Bynum might be a Republican, but from this recent transplant’s point of view, he’s done a very good job in his time as Mayor of trying to bridge a very real, very painful gap in this city.
There has also been recent coverage of the city’s opening of The Gathering Place, an expansive park on the banks of the Arkansas River, designed and marketed as a park for all Tulsans. And despite the park being situated on the white side of the freeway (and I do hate that that’s a thing, but I also come from a city in D.C. with a very distinct “black side of the freeway”), the city is providing free Friday night and weekend shuttles from the Greenwood neighborhood, as a means of saying to the generationally segregated black residents of this city, “You’re welcome here too.” The city has also funded and owns Reconciliation Plaza, a large outdoor park outlining in detail the history of African-Americans in Tulsa. And the city is also pouring money into education reform (the reason why we’re here) to help bridge the racial gap that exists here.
This is a long Internet comment and no one likes those. And if you read through, I greatly appreciate it. Amanda and I had a lot of trepidation about moving to Tulsa. But honestly one of the things that comforted us a bit is that the city really does feel like it’s trying to heal incredibly painful wounds in this community. Gentrification is real and omnipresent in cities across the country, from Wilmington to LA. Tulsa is certainly no different. So I think this is all a long way of saying that I think the premise that the city is trying to whitewash what happened 97 years ago isn’t entirely accurate. Thank you for reading. And thank you for your important voice on social media. Oh and your baseball stuff is pretty good too.
Criticizing an LGBT charity for supporting trans rights? Maybe I don’t understand the issue enough, and the article just kind of confused me more, but it would seem like that’s an incredibly silly thing to do.
It’s actually pretty depressing. The many people who are hostile to trans rights – which I would define as the right to identify as the gender you choose – includes plenty of feminist activists. They see any feminist organization that supports trans women as betraying the feminist cause, because to them trans women are simply men.
If, like me, you are opposed to sex and gender-essentialist bigoty in general, you don’t want to know what a circular firing squad online feminism can be.
It just seems like an incredibly counterproductive course of action. It’s the kind of things that the right will point to as saying, “See! Even they don’t like those people!” That kind of b.s.
Also, regarding the cartoon, I’m in a private political group on Facebook that unfortunately skews left because most all of the conservatives who have ever been in it have violated the admin’s rules and been banned (for personal attacks, mostly, and in one case, unfortunately, outright racism). One member of the group who seems to be moderately conservative (if such a thing still exists, which David Jolly seems to think does not) said that one of the cuffs should have had the DNC symbol on it. Why? Because of the way the DNC “rigged” the election for Hillary. Now while he may have had a point about the DNC doing things that limited certain candidates from getting nominations, I feel that he completely missed the point of that particular cartoon.
Great article from Lizza. Nunes is still up by about 5-8 points in his CA district because of the same hypocrisy in the CA farmers that Lizza documents so well in the IA farmers. Thanks for linking.
I read the Shetland Islands article hoping Denmark makes a similar law for the Faroe Islands and Greenland, and adds in an additional rule that all maps must also show them in Mercator projection.
Thanks for posting these great links and great commentary every week. This is easily one of the highlights of my week
It’s a sham Alison Moyet turned out to be a TERF assbag, but it’s even worse that she tried to couch her unintelligent opinions as bothsidesism.
I’ll be working pax at the gamermats booth. Come say hi and maybe jam some baseball highlights 😉
Hi Keith;
I think the Moyet heading somewhat misrepresents the issue. The signatories to the letter don’t object to trans rights per se, but the way that those rights are at time advocated at the expense of the rights of people born with female biology. (Sorry… trying not to be ambiguous and the terminology keeps shifting). Broadly, they are unwilling to erase the distinction between socially constructed gender and biologically determined sex.
In the UK, this conversation is taking place in the context of a public consultation that considers the possibility of moving to a system of gender self identification. The concern this causes is that it may lead to the erasure of boundaries important to biological females; for example, should trans women who retain male biology be permitted in female-only spaces? Apart from the potential this offers for malicious exploitation, acceptance of pure gender self identification as the sole basis for such distinctions is tantamount to denying the existence of a biological female identity. For anyone who sees the oppression of women as an outgrowth of biological difference, this is naturally a concern.
The thing that baffles me most about TERFs such as yourself is how you see trans women as threats. Trans women just want to exist safely in their bodies the same as any other woman. Acceptance of trans women does nothing to encroach on the rights of cis women, and suggesting otherwise is transphobic.
Hi Mike;
I don’t see trans women as threats. I’m a middle aged white guy comfortably ensconced in a patriarchy that protects me. Also, my sister would laugh at the idea that I’m a radical feminist, though I thank you for the compliment.
The signatories of that letter are emphatically not opposing the acceptance of trans folk. The objection is not to the inclusion of trans women, but making a consequence of that inclusion the erasure of a different, relevant and important identity, the traditional victims of patriarchy, biological females.
I wouldn’t question your assertion about the wishes of trans women in general, but let’s talk about the self-identified trans woman sent to a female prison in the UK who then sexually assaulted four other inmates. How about the fact that the girl guides in the UK now permit trans girls retaining male biology to share accommodation with non-trans girls and have fired people for objecting to this? Does not the first case suggest some need for caution about access to women-only spaces? Does not the first case argue for caution in the second? What about Pips Bunce? Should she be on shortlists for top female executive when most of her climb up the ladder came as Philip? I can’t imagine the courage it took for her to come out (but then, I’m a middle aged straight white guy… I don’t have to…), but shouldn’t the point be to encourage people who have made the ascent without the aid of patriarchy on their side?
It is worth pointing out that a number of trans women share this point of view:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sowoe71lB6A
Now, if I *were* a radical feminist (which, alas, I’m not), I would have to imagine that having the female identity redefined for me by a congregation of the penis-endowed would be an infuriating irony, albeit one entirely consistent with the era of Trump.
“I don’t see trans women as threats”
“let’s talk about the self-identified trans woman sent to a female prison in the UK who then sexually assaulted four other inmates”
I’ve seen all of your boilerplate TERF logic before, but thanks for the example of blatant hypocrisy.
Trans women are women.
The UK case in question involved serious systemic failures that allowed her to transfer before she’d begun the transitioning process, contravening UK rules on the matter. If TD et al want to “talk about” these issues, we need to have the facts laid out before us. And trans prisoners are still far more likely to be victims of assaults than perpetrators. TD’s comment on the Girl Guides also oversimplifies the matter (although a quick scan of the first two pages of Google results turn up a lot of right-wing news outlets and other sites voicing similar views).
I’m with Mike here. Trans women are women, and we should treat them as women.
Hi Keith;
I wouldn’t disagree with the statement “Trans women are women” as long as you allow an identity for non-trans women as well. I’m not concerned with the terminology and don’t (personally – I can see why others might) care what language you use to make that distinction as long as it can be made. If you don’t allow the distinction, then I will disagree with the statement.
You raise the matter of transition in the prison case, which I agree was a systemic failure as things stand. The difficulty that the signatories to the letter foresee is that changing to a system based purely on self identification removes this systemic protection altogether: anyone who identifies as a woman would be sent to a women’s prison regardless of any safeguard. Since the definition of trans being discussed in the UK considers as trans people who have no intention of undergoing any form of surgical or hormonal transition, this is at least an issue worth discussing. My reading suggest that there is (as ever) a range of opinion on the rad feminist side but that in general, there is much less (not none, but much less) objection to post-transition trans women in women-only spaces; the main concern is those without any intention of transitioning.
Re: the guides. I also agree that it’s a complex issue being exploited by right-wing media for transphobic purposes. I would hope that the guides actively encourage the participation of trans girls. I don’t think it is unreasonable to wonder how best to do so given the previous.
Whether that discussion can happen here is another matter, though, since I’m profoundly skeptical of the ability of three men to have a productive discussion of female identity. Happy to keep trying if you are though.
TD
“The Big Ear Family.”
That’s a DEEP Simpsons cut my friend.
The ProPublica article about the Texas surgeon was one of the most depressing and infuriating pieces I’ve read in quite a while. I was cringing and practically hyperventilating as each victim’s story was told. The linked text labels him as “incompetent”, but there is also reason to believe the botched surgeries were performed with malicious intent. Either way, I hope better safeguards are implemented to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
Ugh. Just read that. So many systemic failures. Among them is the unintended consequence of tort reform that disincentivized the types of lawsuits that would have gotten rid of this sociopath sooner.
One that hits closer to home for me are the letters of recommendation. These have frequently become so hyperbolic in praise and light on honest critique that they border on useless. There’s no way surgeon should have received stellar letters throughout each career stage, but many letter writers (I include myself) are uncomfortable being gatekeepers.